Our friends from LA were here Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and left Saturday morning. It was the prefect trip because we got to spend a lot of time together, but when they left we still had the whole weekend ahead of us. The air cooled off significantly and the chill felt refreshing and reminded us all of home.

Wednesday night was all catching up. We went to dinner at Magnolia Brewery and got dessert at our favorite neighborhood ice cream shop (think caramelized honey and crème fraîcheflavors. Yum!). Then we cozied up and went to sleep early.

Thursday we woke up early went for a long 4+ mile walk. Xan and I have a tradition of going for a run on Thanksgiving morning. The fresh and air and the chance to push yourself physically before the intense indulgence is a nice way to add a little balance to a notoriously un-balanced holiday. As I’m still getting over the flu a run wasn’t in the cards, so we decided on a walk instead. It was fun to include Stella and Sam on one of our traditions. Then, we came home and face-timed with all of our families. After that the cooking started big time. Our friends from the city came over and we cooked, watched football, and spent time together for the rest of the day. We ate around 6:00 which led to a nice build-up during the day. The stars of the meal were the macaroni and cheese one of our guests made and Xan’s turkey. He changed his mind the morning of about how he was going to prepare it which I was a little stressed about. But it turned out great! Next year try cooking your stuffing under the skin of the bird – you won’t regret it!

Friday we had plans of getting out of the city and going for a hike. But, after all the food and staying up late into the night playing Cards Against Humanity we all felt much too lazy for that. Instead Xan made us a tasty breakfast of leftovers. His superpower is the ability to turn any dinner leftovers into the most delicious breakfast. Then we wandered around our neighborhood peeking in local shops and enjoying the sunshine and crisp air. My favorite place we discovered was a diverse local bookstore, The Booksmith. We ate tapas at Cha Cha Cha for lunch then headed downtown to see all the decorations and lights. There we walked around a lot more. All-in-all we walked over 6 miles, but a leisurely and relaxing pace.

Saturday morning Stella and Sam headed back to LA and we did a ton of stuff around the house. The rug we ordered for living room came so we put that out, gave the house a good cleaning, moved the old living room rug to the bed room and Xan installed some light fixtures in the bedroom that he made. Those few things made some major improvements to the space. I couldn’t believe how much more livable it felt afterward. And, I think we’re finally ready to start putting up our wall decorations which will also make a big difference. After all that we met our friends in our old neighborhood, The Marina for a movie and dinner at Delarosa, one of our favorite spots there.

Sunday was spent being leisurely and putting up Christmas decorations. We listened to our favorite holiday albums, drank hot chocolate, and decorate the tree. We wanted to prioritize spending some quiet, quality time together because Xan left that day for conference for the rest of the week.